Why I volunteer: The Affordable Care Act

December 10, 2013

I decided to become a volunteer with Organizing for Action after my family’s experience with the broken health care market just a few years ago.

My husband, an attorney in private practice, had a fairly common condition: rheumatoid arthritis. It was a complication that we dealt with, but didn’t give a whole lot of thought to until January of 2009, when I unexpectedly lost my job after a three-decade career in education.

We were forced to look for insurance in the private market, but my husband’s arthritis was classified as a pre-existing condition. Soon we found out that we could only buy health coverage through a high-risk pool. We were thankful to be covered, but it was shockingly expensive.

I was surprised and dismayed. I had heard of people losing health coverage due to cancer and other life threatening conditions, but arthritis in an index finger?

That didn’t seem fair, and even after my husband passed away in March of this year, I knew that I needed to stay involved, see this through, and help fix the broken system.

Patti leads a Health Care for the Holidays training session.

Just last week, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I was one of the many people who were able to purchase a new health insurance policy through the marketplace. I had multiple plans and companies to choose from, and the process took me just five minutes—plus it’ll save me $100 per month.

Best of all, because of Obamacare and the millions of people working to successfully implement it, I realized families would no longer be discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions.

My story—and the millions of others like it—inspire my OFA team to organize our community and share information about the Affordable Care Act at public libraries, farmers markets, and grocery stores. Through these events, I have met countless individuals who, like me, are relieved to know that they can now purchase affordable, high quality health insurance for themselves and their loved ones. They no longer have to worry about the possibility of declaring bankruptcy if they become sick.